New Delhi, Dec. 31 -- IIT Madras will host Shaastra 2026, its annual technical festival, from January 2-6, 2026, on campus. The five-day festival is expected to draw over 80,000 visitors, featuring 80 events, 130 stalls exhibiting innovations of IIT Madras, and a diverse programme of competitions, exhibitions, workshops, conferences and shows. Entirely student-managed, Shaastra is among Asia's largest technical festivals, with over 750 students organising the event.

Now in its 27th edition, Shaastra has grown into a premier platform celebrating science, technology and innovation since its inception in 2000. This year's theme, "Artifacts of Arcade," reimagines the festival as an interactive, game-like ecosystem where each competition or workshop feels like a new level to conquer, blending hands-on learning with nostalgia-driven engagement.

FIRST TIME EVENTS

Shaastra 2026 introduces several first-of-their-kind events, including 'Robo GP', a high-speed nitro-fuelled robotic racing challenge, 'BioBattle', centred on biomimicry-driven healthcare innovation, 'NeuroHack', IIT Madras' first brain-computer interface hackathon using real EEG data, 'E-Contest', a coding challenge based on esoteric programming languages, 'Quantified Dilemma', blending game theory, psychology and strategy and the Educators Conclave under the VidhyaVahak programme, offering educators exclusive masterclasses and professional networking.

"Shaastra has helped in reaching out all our technical efforts to the public, demonstrating them and engaging the public to take it forward. Many first-of-its-kind hackathons in core technology areas are planned this year," said Prof V Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras.

CONFERENCES & LECTURES

Shaastra 2026 will also feature spotlight lectures by distinguished leaders, including Dr S Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister of India; Prof Jeffrey Ullman, Turing Award laureate; Prof Subra Suresh, former Director of the US National Science Foundation; Dr Vidita Vaidya, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize-winning neuroscientist; and several other eminent scientists, administrators and thought leaders.

Evenings at Shaastra will blend technology and entertainment, with a tech-entertainment night featuring electronic music duo Lost Stories and a comedy night headlined by stand-up comedian Pranav Sharma.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.